Chaga tea recipe.

[Monikieman]

Hi folks.

just back from a weeks camp and was lucky ewnough to find some magnificant chaga fungus. Largest bit is just under 2kg and a smaller one at 1670g.

Just wondered if anyone has a good recipe for tea. Did a bit of 'Youtubing' and as usual...loads of versions!

Was going to keep the softer lighter stuff for fire lighting and harder bark/outer bits for tea.

(I've read a few older threads since I've come back and I'm not interested in selling. Didn't realise it was so rare.)

Thanks in advance.

Brian

 

[Toddy]

I'm interested in this too; I've only used it for an ember, but when I cut it up I get masses of tan coloured dust. I thought that might be the stuff to use for tea, but someone said recently that it's the black outer that's used for tea ....not sure about that tbh, how the hang does one get the black outer off, it's not like fomes or other bracket fungi.

Anyway, the dust acts like a magnet for sparks if you put it into a wee tin or put a good pinch on a bit of birch bark

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Monikieman]

From what I've seen a rasp will take the outer off. The dark stuff and black is for tea and the lighter stuff for tinder. The left overs from tea makes good tinder as well apparently.

Looking to hear from someone with experience in making the tea rather than waste too much chaga!

 

[Teepee]

Its all good as tea.

The softest parts near the bark are more valuable for firelighting, so the tea tends to get made from the harder outer parts.

You can make it with chunks as well as powdered Chaga, but the finer its ground, the quicker the tea brews. With powdered stuff, the brew will be ready in 10 mins or so.

IMO and others who have tried it; Its a kind of tea taste, quite inoffensive with a nice aftertaste that becomes nicer the more you drink it.

 

[Monikieman]

Cheers Pete.

So, boil it or not? Recipes for both keep cropping up!

Many thanks.

 

[Toddy]

Thanks Teepee

Mine comes as crusty great lumps with a thin layer of black....like the top crust on Scottish Plain bread or the texture of old silver birch bark, with masses of inner brown stuff. The only stuff that was 'soft' was half rotted and squelching wet, but even that dried out well

cheers,
M

 

[Teepee]

Cheers Pete.

So, boil it or not? Recipes for both keep cropping up!

Many thanks.

Good question and one I can't answer as I've done both and not noticed any difference

Some of the magic inside the chaga is Betulinic acid with a whole host of reported benefits-from the limited knowledge I have it seems the stuff isn't damaged by boiling.

 

[Teepee]

Thanks Teepee

Mine comes as crusty great lumps with a thin layer of black....like the top crust on Scottish Plain bread or the texture of old silver birch bark, with masses of inner brown stuff. The only stuff that was 'soft' was half rotted and squelching wet, but even that dried out well

cheers,
M

I think the water collects at the junction between the tree and the Chaga, mine have been squelchy too. Yep, just like crusty bread that been left in the oven a little long

I've seen a couple of you tube videos where a guy manages to start a friction fire easily by using the outer black stuff as the hearth. Bow drill and hand. It seems to dry out fantastically well, probably down to the very fine filaments and huge surface area.

 

[Toddy]

I've had a couple of the greenhouse trays full of it out in the sunshine to dry off these past few days. Day one lifting them was noticeable, like hefting a bag of spuds, but by tonight they were really a fraction of the weight. Lot of water, I reckon you're right

cheers,
M

 

[Toddy]

HWMBLT sent me a link It's the scientist in him, he likes proof

http://oriveda.wordpress.com/chaga-the-facts/

cheers,
M

 

[Teepee]

Cracking link Mary

Interesting that all the hype over the Betulinic acid seems flawed and the highest proportion of available good stuff comes from the hard outer crust.

It also suggests an ethanol and hot water extraction is the best way of getting the anti-oxidants out of it and lengthy hot water extraction at that. I need no other reason to boil the bejesus out of the outer crust drop a dram of malt in my tea

 

[Monikieman]

Well it looks like 'when the chaga's in, the wit's out'. (don't leave pot on high to boil over cooker!!!!!)

Grated all the outer black stuff off, cut it into smaller pieces and took more hard outer off.

Put it through the hand mincer and now have a nice looking coffee granule stuff.

Very slow boil and it tastes like black coffee. Bit woody but it's my own so I'll have to enjoy it.

Just to see if there's any health benefits.

Not sure about the chaga that's left. It's not too soft and spongy. I've weighed it and will see what I can get it down to drying it.

Thanks for all the help.

Brian

 

[Skaukraft]

Thought Iwould post this here to. Had a go at making chaga tinkture.
I had a jar filled with vodka and chaga and left it in a dark place for 6 weeks, shaking it once every second day.

I started sifting the mix. The vodka have a deep rich brownish colour. And it hade a lovely sweet smell of something between valilla and prunes

The bits I sifted out were put in a pot filled with water, and let it boil down to half the volume. The smell was the same as from the vodka, lovely sweet vanilla and prunish smell.

I filled a cup with the boil of and tasted it. The taste reminded me a bit of the bitter scnaps Gammel Dansk mixed with coffe. Bitter but sweet and very rich. The rest of the boil of I mixed in with the vodka to blend it down a bit.
The end product got a deep deep brownish colour with a hint of red, and it smells wonderfull.

I plan to take one table spoon of the tinkture every evening. I know from befoe that it has a positive effect on both blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. I will report on the effect (if any) later.

Edit: According to my wife, the tinkture smells just like Jägermeister.

Edit 2: Now, after the tinkture has had a week or so to rest, the taste is vary close to Fernet Branca, I know Fernet isn't every ones cup of tea, but it happens to be one of my favourite liqours. So I will most definately make more of this stuff.